Saturday, August 11, 2007

Well, making steady progress on the Website. While it's not really complete yet, and has a few place holders with blurbs rather than information, it does seem to be shaping up nicely.

I'm also going through the Elthos ODS Rules Book and weeding out extraneous stuff, and slimming it down even further. So that's coming along nicely. Soon...

On other fronts: I finished reading "Dogs in the Vineyard" and am not onto "Shadows of Yesterday". These are two Indie RPGs that have gained a lot of popularity in certain circles and so I want to see what all the hubbub is about. I really must say that in the case of DitV it's got a lot going for it. What I particularly like is the scenario development process. The way DitV establishes scenes along psychological and moral lines is intriguing. I am going to consider that methodology and try to genercise it for my game.

I've only just started with SoY so I'm not sure what I think of it yet. However, I did notice at least one thing of interest, in relation to recent discussions on Lessons in the LRPGSW. The Rules for regeneration of Character points is based on doing things WITH someone else (only). There is a reason for this, and I sense that the author has a "lesson to be learned" from that particular mechanic. Hmmm... interesting.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Ok since DexCon 10 things have picked up remarkably. I met some very cool people and learned a lot of important stuff about the RPG marketplace. It's rather a bit different than I had thought. So that's good. Well, what's good is that I now it's different. However the differences are ... hmmm ... well different. I was expecting to find a strong and thriving market, for one thing. Instead I find a market that is extremely weak, in terms of both dollars and unity of purpose.

There seems to be a war going on between the Indie and Traditionalist game players. I have my own views as to what this war is about and they are expressed on the theRPGSite forum:

So the odd thing is that there's this war going on. I didn't expect that. I even got myself roundly trounced for it. Hmmm...

As for the Elthos Project I'm working hard on putting it all together. I have a big old task list now and am working through it. Aside from reading and listenning to the recommended items by those good folk out on LRGPSW, I spent the weekend working on the website and revamping it using Expression Web. That went well.

Next on the list is to finish the Power 19 questions, even if for just myself, and to listen to the remaining podcasts recommended by Tim.

I decided to split out the Rules into a completely separate book from the World Weaving Guide (Setting) and the Gamesmaster's Guide. These will probably turn into three books instead of one.

My reasoning is that the Rules can be played independently from Setting, and so they should be in a separate book without Setting information. But a Settings Book should be available to go with it. By this the GM should KNOW that the two can be decoupled and you can use any Setting you want with the Rules and vice versa. Makes sense to me. The Gamesmaster's Guide is there to provide insight as to how I GM my world, and provide advice on that rather complex topic. It will also include a review of How I made Money Gamesmastering! That should be of interest.

The ODS Toolbox is pretty much finished, as are the base ODS Rules. I figure the book should come to roughly 12 pages of Rules and a few print sheets. The Setting Book (World Weaver's Guide) should be somewhat larger as there's a lot to be said regarding Elthos. I could and probably will make that into a section of the Website under the Member's Area, as well as a downloadable PDF or Lulu printable file.

Once the website and the PDFs are finished I need to optimize the Toolbox and get it online with subscription services. And then I will be ready to launch. Yay.

Blog Pages

What is Elthos?

Elthos is a traditional style RPG Rules System that first made its appearance in 1978. The Mythos Machine is the web application that comprehensively supports the Elthos RPG with two major features.

The World Weaver's Studio helps GMs with building their Worlds, and populating them with Places, Campaigns, Adventures and Things (Equipment, Weapons, Armors, Cultures, Races, Classes, Mystic Powers, Skills, etc).

GamesMaster's Toolbox serves as number cruncher for Character Generation, Adventure Groups Management, and running Reports, the most popular being the Print World Report which produces a nicely formatted print out of your World, Places, Campaigns, Adventures, and optionally includes Character Stat Blocks, Maps, Images, and Campaign History.